In a typical assisted checkout environment, such as that found in a grocery store, a cashier stands at a checkstand including a point of sale terminal with a large touchscreen display. A conveyor is employed upon which products are placed and then advanced for scanning or weighing on an integrated barcode scanner and scale, and a further conveyor is employed which conveys scanned and weighed products to a bagging area. In another typical arrangement, such as a drugstore or convenience store, a customer places a basket of items on a countertop. A store employee stands behind a POS terminal on the opposite side of the counter from the customer, scans items with a headheld scanner, takes the customer's payment by credit card or cash, and provides the customer with a printed receipt. Self-checkout systems similarly tend to be large, bulky, and complex systems.
Such arrangements, while having many advantages, tend to include multiple, bulky and separate components, such as a large touch screen display, a barcode scanner/scale, a keyboard, a mouse, as well as, network communications support such as a phone line for credit card sales approval, and the like. Additionally, various tasks performed utilizing such systems may require the store person performing the checkout function to look away from the customer thereby diminishing the checkout experience or preventing the cashier from observing customer activities, such as attempted shoplifting or the like.